Guillaume Dufay

Guillaume Dufay was the first great composer of the Renaissance, a time period that produced a plethora of great composers.  He was born near Brussels in the 1390s and lived to 1474; he died a distinguished Canon of Cambrai Cathedral, arguably the second most prestigious cathedral of the French cultural sphere after Notre Dame in Paris.  He probably established the pattern, lasting for over a century, of great Franco-Flemish composers traveling South to become leading musicians in the Courts of Italy and Spain, especially in the Papal Chapel in Rome. 

Dufay is listed as a choirboy in the Cathedral archives at Cambrai in 1409, then as a clerk in 1413.  Next (1420) we hear of him in the service of Carlo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini and Pesaro in NE Italy, where he famously wrote the motet, “Vasilissa ergo gaude”, for the wedding of Cleofe Malatesta and Theodoros Palaiologos, the son of the of the Byzantine Emperor.  In 1427 we find him back in Cambrai as Deacon at St. Géry Collegiate Church, and the very next year he was back in Italy, a member of the Papal Chapel.  In 1434 a leave of absence from Rome places Dufay as Chaplain and Chapelmaster to Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, at Chambéry.  (The Pope himself, Eugenius IV, left Rome due to the agitations of the anti-Pope factions).  Dufay reunited with the Papal Chapel in Florence where he wrote his monumental motet, “Nuper rosarum flores” for the consecration of the Cathedral by Eugenius IV in 1436.  In September of that year Eugenius granted Dufay a Canonate and Prebend at Cambrai Cathedral.  The appointment was confirmed by the Chapter in November. 

Dufay held this position, which brought him back to Northern France, for the rest of his life.  In 1442 he succeeded Nicholas Grenon, his old choirmaster, as Master of the Petit Vicaires, in charge of the 35 Cathedral singers.  Proof of his acceptance as a member of the Cathedral Chapter was his appointment as Wine Cellar Master in 1447.  There were various leaves of absence, especially to the Courts of Savoy and Burgundy, during his tenure as Chapelmaster at Cambrai, which finally ended in 1464 around age 70.  In July 1474 Dufay’s Will requested that the Choir sing his motet, “Ave Regina coelorum” at his death bed.  He died in November.